Innovators and veterans honoured at APSEA Gala

By on 11 April, 2018

CSIRO Data61 accept their award for innovation and commercialisation at the 2018 APSEA awards in Adelaide.

Rising stars and spatial stalwarts alike were decorated and recognised for their contributions at the Asia Pacific Spatial Awards Gala dinner in Adelaide.

Closing the second and penultimate day of the bustling Geosmart Asia – Locate ’18 conference at the Adelaide conference centre, guests of the gala were treated to an exquisite meal and selection of local wines as they gathered to support industry peers and colleagues — or accept their accolades.

Individual contributions recognised

First up were educators and students, with joint winners in the undergraduate student category, Queensland’s Leigh Tingle and New Zealand’s Craig John MacDonnell, with Lewis Walsh of Western Australia receiving a high commendation.

South Australia’s Iffat Ara took out the SSSI postgraduate student award, with a high commendation going to Rebecca Runting of Queensland, and Western Australia’s Petra Helmholz received the education development award.

Adrian White, program manager of Cadastre New South Wales was awarded SSSI young professional of the year, with PSMA Australia’s Dan Paull of the ACT taking out the professional of the year category. Patricia Burke of Western Australia won the women’s leadership award in a field that included Megan Dillon, Kellee Ireland, Kasia Dworniczak and Georgie Cassak.

Industry ascendants and heavyweights

Western Australia’s rapidly climbing imagery purveyors Spookfish took out the coveted award for export with their patented aerial capture technology’s uptake by a major North American partner.

SIBA | GITA CEO Deanna Hutchinson presented the award for technical excellence to AJJV, an Arup Jacobs joint venture, for the role as advisors on Auckland’s light rail, with PSMA Australia receiving a high commendation for the making of Geoscape.

Alistair Hart of Mangoesmapping accepts the SSSI award for environment and sustainability.

Queensland’s Mangoesmapping claimed the environment and sustainability award for its work on the Gully erosion monitoring for reef health project, with Hutchinson remarking: “This project provides substantial documentation in an engaging way to support the claims of rigour, integrity, due dilligence and impact. Tackling erosion and sediment management for the Great Barrier Reef is a clear example of best practice enquiry and application of technology, addressing critical issues of national relevance and international interest.”

RMIT’s Fuels 3D was highly commended in this category, which captures information about fuel hazard in sensitive and fire-prone areas by combining everyday smartphone technology with cloud-based 3D analytics.

AAM and the WA Department of Health claimed the award for people and community with their maternity services viewer tool collaboration.

The award for spatial enablement was claimed by Esri Australia with the innovative Smarter Planning Perth project, a platform that provides a visual representation of scheduled works from multiple agencies, allowing them to plan, schedule, and collaborate on project work. Presenter Alistair Byrom called Smarter Planning Perth “a very worthwhile project that facilitates significant public savings through pooling resources and effort enabled by spatial technology. It’s a useful application to find ways to optimise public corridors to find efficiencies.”

But it was CSIRO’s Data61 that proved the biggest winners of the evening, claiming the award for innovation and commercialisation, and the prestigious J.K Barrie award for their Spark bushfire modelling system.

SSSI said that the J.K Barrie award recognises Keith Barrie’s selfless contribution to the professional and business communities, and represents the highest pinnacle of spatial achievement that the judging panel can confer on recipients. Byrom praised the project before handing over the award.

“With the bushfire threat seemingly ever increasing, the development of the Spark Bushfire Modelling System is a timely and innovative extension of previous predictive systems. Its excellence lies in its flexibility and accuracy and ability to be applied to virtually any scenario — thus increasing its effectiveness and commerciality,” he said.

Seeming in a state of shock at the announcement, a humbled Data61 representative announced their appreciation at the recognition, saying: “We’re users of spatial data, we hadn’t considered ourselves a part of this broader industry. We are excited to increase our engagement going forward.” Congratulations to the Data61 team.

Unsung heroes awarded

Phil Delaney of CRCSI.

Finally, a series of tireless contributors were awarded for their service and dedication on behalf of SSSI and SIBA | GITA. The Chairman’s award went to Phil Delaney of CRCSI, and Energex snapped up the ‘Dial before you dig’ award. SSSI’s eminence award was furnished upon Professor Stuart Phinn.

SIBA | GITA honored Taylors, with their excellence accolade, and SSSI fellows were thanked for their service: Dr. Peter Woodgate, Dr. Zaffar Mohamed-Ghouse and John Minehan, whom also claimed the SSSI President’s award for over 50 years of mentorship and contribution to the surveying community.

Congratulations to all winners and entrants, and to SSSI and SIBA|GITA for a triumphant event.

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